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New Zealand technology firms SmartPay and Tait Radio Communications are celebrating breakthroughs into the Australian market as banks and state governments accept their technologies for use across the Ditch. In the case of NZX-listed SmartPay, it has achieved Australian certification for use of its proprietary retail payment terminals by Westpac Bank, the first in a string of acceptances required for the kiwi company to grab a larger share of the Australian EFTPOS terminal market. The company is targeting growth from less than 1% market share at present to 5% as Australian retailers shift to the EMV “chip-card” standard for credit and debit cards, which was deployed in New Zealand earlier, in part to meet international tourist expectations during the Rugby World Cup.

Ryanair is set to introduce the’Ryanair Cash Passport’ prepaid MasterCard. Managed by Access Prepaid Worldwide, the Ryanair “Cash Passport” will charge no transaction fees for any payments made on the Ryanair.com website. Additionally, there will be no transaction fees on any UK purchases until March 31st and there will be a purchase fee of GBP6, reimbursed to Ryanair passengers with a GBP6 Ryanair travel voucher. The Ryanair Cash Passport can also be used for ATM withdrawals, online and high-street purchases at more than 32 million locations worldwide (that display the Mastercard Acceptance Mark).

Adyen international payment processing integrated with Moneris, giving customers of both companies a single point-of-entry to a global suite of credit, debit and local payment methods. According to the North America B2C e-commerce report 2010, the number of Internet users in the United States is estimated to reach 205 million in 2010 (accounting for 66% of the population). The analytics and customization capabilities of Adyen will allow Moneris to micro-target consumer feature preferences, which have been shown to drive higher conversion rates, as well as identify over twenty specific patterns of fraud and set parameters to prevent future deceptive payments.

Short term loan specialist Payday Express has advanced its fraud protection by implementing an improved cardholder verification process, to help combat debit card crime. Like many companies in the financial services industry, along with many other business sectors, instant approval payday loans provider Payday Express is particularly keen to tackle card not present (CNP) fraud. Payday Express has previously developed a number of checks to prevent and tackle CNP fraud and has strengthened these with the addition of a more stringent cardholder verification process, for cases where customers call in to pay with a different card to the one originally registered on their account.

The “MeCard” MasterCard for teenagers is now available, allowing parents to set a monthly budget for their allowance which you upload to their card direct from your ‘parent’ card. Top ups to the parent card can be made either by debit / credit card from the MeCard website or at a PayPoint terminal in your local shop and will take approximately 2 hours to show on the account. The “MeCard” card can also be used to obtain cash from cash machines at home or abroad – perfect for foreign school trips, festivals or any other situation they find themselves in. The card is Chip and PIN secure and has a maximum balance on the card is GBP 500.

Age UK is encouraging banks to rebuild confidence in check use to ensure they remain truly viable for older people and those who rely on them before it’s too late. The Payments Council is subsequently meeting to discuss its next steps, namely, how to make the check clearing system more efficient and less expensive. Additionally, Age UK is calling for continued work on the development of alternative and innovative payment systems which are accessible to all consumer, but probably wont report back on the situation before the end of the year.

Standard Chartered Bank has adopted ACI Worldwide’s “Money Transfer System 4.0” for its Euro clearing. Standard Chartered Bank uses Money Transfer System for clearing major currencies: US Dollar, Euro and the Japanese Yen as part of its commitment to meet the highest levels of availability, reliability and scalability that its customers have come to expect. Adopting Money Transfer System 4.0 in Germany allows the bank to respond to the requirements of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) – enabling it to comply fully with the new regulations, and make cross-border payments faster and more economic for its customers.

Customers in Timpson and Max Spielmann stores can now pay for everything with their contactless credit or debit card through its partnership with Barclaycard. The partnership is deploying contactless payment terminals in all of its 860 branches. The move to contactless is part of the continued growth of the Timpson Group, which opened its first branch in Manchester in 1865 and has spanned five generations of the Timpson family. Following the launch of the UK first contactless mobile payment service in May 2011, by Barclaycard and Orange, Timpson customers will also be able to pay for their goods using their mobile phones. There are over 13.5 million contactless-enabled Barclays debit and Barclaycard credit cards in circulation, with Barclaycard having provided over 50,000 outlets with terminals to date.

With both consumers and issuers skittish about credit use, U.S. credit card delinquencies fell to a near six-year low, with 60+ day delinquencies dropping for the 19th straight month by another 31 basis points (bps) to settle at 2.15%. Subsequently, the delinquency index is now 52% below peak levels of 4.50%, reached 18 months ago,…

The August Fitch Prime monthly payment rate (MPR) performance faltered, dropping 62 bps from July to 21.14%. Primarily comprised of general purpose portfolios originated by Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Capital One and Discover, the Index’ levels remain well above the index average of 16.3% while gross yield slipped below the 20% mark at 19.99%…

US Airways is offering customers mobile boarding pass technology from NCR, allowing them to receive an email containing a digitally signed and encrypted 2D bar code, which they can then scan from their smartphone at the kiosk, bypass check-in lines and head straight to the security checkpoint. The NCR “Mobile Pass” is now available in 14 U.S. airports, including LaGuardia International Airport in New York and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., and plans to further expand the offering in 2011 are underway. This is in response to findings showing 48% of U.S. travelers who use their mobile phone for travel information and transactions also use their mobile phone to check-in for flights, 45% access itineraries and reservations and one in every seven bar-coded boarding passes worldwide will be delivered to passengers’ mobile devices within two years.

American Express announces that Virgin America will join the industry-leading Membership Rewards program, allowing American Express Cardmembers enrolled in Membership Rewards to transfer their points into Virgin America Elevate points and redeem for any unsold seat on any Virgin America flight at any time. Virgin America’s rapid growth is closely aligned with where American Express Cardmembers live and where they want to travel. The award-winning airline services top travel markets such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and recently expanding to Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago. The Virgin America Elevate program offers Web-based redemption with no blackout dates and has grown to over 1.9 million members since the carrier’s 2007 launch.